22
Once Upon a Time in the Provinces
Nico’s son Philip was the storyteller of the Lim family. Lola used to say he was still full of s**t from falling in the
outhouse.
His favorite victims were his half-American cousins. When they came from the States, he filled their heads with his frightening stories. He loved a captive audience. No one was more captivated
by him than his cousin Zenny.
He was three years her senior and knew, by the fully dilated way she looked at him, that she adored his stories only a little less than she adored him.
“Once upon a time in the provinces,” he’d begin, “…there were four very disobedient children. They had wonderful parents, but they did not listen to their
mother’s good advice. They were lazy, as well as disobedient. Though their mother slaved to pay
